Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Enhances Depression Outcome in Patients with Comorbid Major Depressive Disorder and Insomnia

Abstract

This pilot study provides evidence that augmenting an antidepressant medication with a brief, symptom focused, cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia is promising for individuals with MDD and comorbid insomnia in terms of alleviating both depression and insomnia.

Cardiac Vagal Control and Depressive Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Sleep Quality

“…Research in clinical samples already showed that even short-term interventions (one session of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia) can improve sleep quality considerably and for at least 4 weeks after the intervention (Ellis, Cushing, & Germain, 2015). Other studies using cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia also demonstrated a reduction of depressive symptoms in patients with comorbid depression (e.g., Manber et al, 2008). Moreover, it has been suggested that sleep disruption plays an important role, functioning as a transdiagnostic characteristic of mental disorders and supporting the implementation of cognitive behavioral therapy modules for insomnia in the treatment of a variety of disorders (e.g., Harvey et al, 2014).…”

Correlations between depression behaviors and sleep parameters after repeated corticosterone injections in rats

“…For example, REM sleep latency [25] and REM density [26] have both been shown to predict the severity of depression. There are several lines of preliminary evidence suggesting that adjuvant insomnia treatments can have a greater impact on insomnia and depression than the treatment of depression alone [27,28] . The problem of identifying the most depression-vulnerable insomnia subtypes Core symptoms of major depression include anhedonia, despair, insomnia and cognitive impairment, along with frequent anxiety and comorbid diseases [29,30] .…”

Evaluation of the PHQ-9 Item 3 as a Screen for Sleep Disturbance in Primary Care

“…Sleep interventions are effective in both improving sleep in primary insomnia patients, 3,13,45 as well as in patients who are experiencing insomnia and other sleep disturbances comorbid with other disorders. [46][47][48][49][50] Furthermore, preliminary studies suggest that improving sleep quality may also improve symptoms of other physical and mental health disorders associated with insomnia, [51][52][53] further emphasizing the importance of identifying and treating this, and potentially other common sleep disturbances.…”